Actually, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys were accused of being pirates (circa 1870) after signing players from other teams. The league found them innocent. The team decided to go with it and changed their name.
Portland Trailblazers works well, as it’s a reference to the Oregon Trail. So does the Portland Thorns and Portland Timbers as the two MLS teams (Portland variously being referred to as ‘Rose City’ and ‘Stumptown’).
One that seems to be selected for no good reason is the Portland Pickles wood bat baseball team.
Worst for me is Utah Jazz, which seems like an oxymoron. I guess changing it to the Utah Religious Nuts was right out.
But the Hillsboro* Hops minor league baseball team is a perfect name for a beer-drinking city at the edge of a hops-growing valley.
*suburb of Portland
Another questionable one is the Carolina Panthers. Are there any large wildcats in that area?
But, a fair number of team names are a good representation of the locality:
The Baltimore Ravens name is a reference to Edgar Allen Poe, who lived (and died) in Baltimore.
The SF 49er’s are a nod to the gold prospectors who came to California starting in 1849.
The Nevada teams are well named too - the Reno Aces and the Las Vegas 51s.
They were called the Redlegs during the 50s, so as to distance themselves from the associations with Communism.
The Arizona Diamondbacks have a doubly appropriate nickname, as the diamondback rattler is abundant in Arizona, and baseball is played on a diamond.
Along those lines, the New England Revolution soccer team, which has the same owner as the Pats and play in the same stadium.
Ditto on the Memphis Grizzlies.
I might add the Detroit Pistons to that list.
mmm
Another one with connections to local industry is Hartford Whalers.
Boston Celtics is a nice nod to the city’s large Irish population.
New York Giants and Jets are names that, like a lot of teams, suggest power.
Not anymore.
You mean the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons?
I like the Joliet Slammers, playing near the famous Joliet Prison.
I would so love a team that played there to pick the name “Joliet Blues.”
The 51s are now the Las Vegas Aviators from Howard Hughes who was a well known aviator before he lost all his marbles.
Of course, but Green Bay was never famous as a meat packing town as was Chicago (“hog butcher to the world”). Meat packing was to Chicago as brewing was to Milwaukee, grain milling to Minneapolis, autos to Detroit, et cetera.
I’m the first to mention The Minnesota Twins? After their twin cities?
The Los Angeles Angels was very appropriate at the time of the team’s founding, given that “Angeles” is Spanish for angels. Not quite as relevant after they moved to Orange County to become the California/Anaheim Angels. Don’t get me started on that Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim nonsense.
USC Trojans naming themselves after a condom company is appropriate considering they’re a bunch of dicks. Why, yes, I did graduate from UCLA. Why do you ask?
UC Santa Cruz being the Banana Slugs is all kinds of awesome. And those things are all over the local redwood forests.
God, how did I forget the Grizzlies? There are no grizzly bears in Tennessee, or anywhere east of the Mississippi, unless they’re in a zoo.
Pittsburgh Penguins is an odd one too but it’s a reference to ice, not Pittsburgh.
There are no jaguars in Florida.
Maybe they should pronounce it Jag-u-ars. I bet there is some of those in Floridas.